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    Angwor Wat Temple

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    krishnamarajublr
    Airborne laser technology uncovered a network of roadways and canals illustrating an ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex. The laser scanning revealed an urban landscape of the 1,200-year-old Khmer empire integrating the famous temples. It mapped a vast previously undiscovered cityscape under dense jungle, including highways and temples, showing the downtown was much more expansive than believed at 35 square kilometers. The lidar technology provided a detailed 3D map through thick vegetation, changing understanding of how these ancient cities were structured.

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    Angwor Wat Temple

    Uploaded by

    krishnamarajublr
    160 views8 pages
    Airborne laser technology uncovered a network of roadways and canals illustrating an ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex. The laser scanning revealed an urban landscape of the 1,200-year-old Khmer empire integrating the famous temples. It mapped a vast previously undiscovered cityscape under dense jungle, including highways and temples, showing the downtown was much more expansive than believed at 35 square kilometers. The lidar technology provided a detailed 3D map through thick vegetation, changing understanding of how these ancient cities were structured.

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    Airborne laser technology uncovered a network of roadways and canals illustrating an ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex. The laser scanning revealed an urban landscape of the 1,200-year-old Khmer empire integrating the famous temples. It mapped a vast previously undiscovered cityscape under dense jungle, including highways and temples, showing the downtown was much more expansive than believed at 35 square kilometers. The lidar technology provided a detailed 3D map through thick vegetation, changing understanding of how these ancient cities were structured.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    160 views8 pages

    Angwor Wat Temple

    Uploaded by

    krishnamarajublr
    Airborne laser technology uncovered a network of roadways and canals illustrating an ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex. The laser scanning revealed an urban landscape of the 1,200-year-old Khmer empire integrating the famous temples. It mapped a vast previously undiscovered cityscape under dense jungle, including highways and temples, showing the downtown was much more expansive than believed at 35 square kilometers. The lidar technology provided a detailed 3D map through thick vegetation, changing understanding of how these ancient cities were structured.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 8

    Laser Reveals Ancient Hidden City

    The Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia. Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of
    roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples
    complex. (John James Images/Getty Images)









    Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a
    bustling ancient city linking Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

    The discovery was announced late Monday in a peer-reviewed paper released early by the
    journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laser scanning revealed a
    previously undocumented formally planned urban landscape integrating the 1,200-year-old
    temples.

    The Angkor temple complex, Cambodia's top tourist destination and one of Asia's most famous
    landmarks, was constructed in the 12th century during the mighty Khmer empire. Angkor Wat is
    a point of deep pride for Cambodians, appearing on the national flag, and was named a UNESCO
    World Heritage Site.

    Archaeologists had long suspected that the city of Mahendraparvata lay hidden beneath a canopy
    of dense vegetation atop Phnom Kulen mountain in Siem Reap province. But the airborne lasers
    produced the first detailed map of a vast cityscape, including highways and previously
    undiscovered temples.

    "No one had ever mapped the city in any kind of detail before, and so it was a real revelation to
    see the city revealed in such clarity," University of Sydney archaeologist Damian Evans, the
    study's lead author, said by phone from Cambodia. "It's really remarkable to see these traces of
    human activity still inscribed into the forest floor many, many centuries after the city ceased to
    function and was overgrown."

    The laser technology, known as lidar, works by firing laser pulses from an aircraft to the ground
    and measuring the distance to create a detailed, three-dimensional map of the area. It's a useful
    tool for archaeologists because the lasers can penetrate thick vegetation and cover swaths of
    ground far faster than they could be analyzed on foot. Lidar has been used to explore other
    archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge.

    In April 2012, researchers loaded the equipment onto a helicopter, which spent days
    crisscrossing the dense forests from 800 meters (2,600 feet) above the ground. A team of
    Australian and French archaeologists then confirmed the findings with an on-foot expedition
    through the jungle.
    Archaeologists had already spent years doing ground research to map a 9-square-kilometer (3.5-
    square-mile) section of the city's downtown area. But the lidar revealed the downtown was much
    more expansive - at least 35 square kilometers (14 square miles) - and more heavily populated
    than once believed.

    "The real revelation is to find that the downtown area is densely inhabited, formally-planned and
    bigger than previously thought," Evans said. "To see the extent of things we missed before has
    completely changed our understanding of how these cities were structured."

    Researchers don't yet know why the civilization at Mahendraparvata collapsed. But Evans said
    one current theory is that possible problems with the city's water management system may have
    driven people out.

    The next step for researchers involves excavating the site, which Evans hopes will reveal clues
    about how many people once called the city home.

    The Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia. Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of
    roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia's Angkor Wat temples
    complex. (John James Images/Getty Images)
    Sunlight filtering through highly decorated walls of temple in UNESCO World Heritage site of
    Angkor Wat, Cambodia. (Heath Korvola/Getty Images)
    The face of Buddha carved in stone at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

    4/7
    The Banteay Sree Temple in Angkor, Cambodia.

    The sprawling complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.


    Cambodian monks sit in ancient ruins of Angkor Wat
    Terrace of the leper king in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

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